Patrick Michael Ward

Killed in Action on the 20/07/1916 near Armientieres during the attack at Fromelles (part of the Battles of the Somme)

Patrick enlisted on the 20/07/1915 at Liverpool, New South Wales and embarked for Egypt from Sydney on the 09/11/1915. Disembarked at Suez aboard the H.M.A.T "Beltana" on the 11/12/1915. Found guilty of disobedience of orders on the 05/05/1916 and received 1 days punishment drill. Embarked Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force on the 16/06/1916 aboard the H.M.A.T "Hororata". Disembarked in Marseilles 7 days later. The Battalion was part of the 8th Australian Brigade, 5th Australian Division. PATRICK WAS KILLED IN ACTION EXACTLY 1 YEAR AFTER ENLISTING near Armientieres during the attack at Fromelles on the 19th and 20th July 1916. Fromelles was the first major battle fought by Australian troops on the Western Front. Directed against a strong German position known as the Sugar Loaf salient, the attack was intended primarily as a feint to draw German troops away from the Somme offensive then being pursued further to the south. A seven-hour preparatory bombardment deprived the attack of any hope of surprise, and ultimately proved ineffective in subduing the well-entrenched defenders. When the troops of the 5th Australian and 61st British Divisions attacked at 6pm on the 19th July 1916, they suffered heavily at the hands of German machine-gunners. Small parts of the German trenches were captured by the 8th and 14th Australian Brigades, but, devoid of flanking support and subjected to fierce counterattacks, they were forced to withdraw. By 8am on the 20th July 1916, the battle was over. The 5th Australian Division suffered 5,533 casualties, rendering it incapable of offensive action for many months; the 61st British Division suffered 1,547. The German casualties were little more than 1,000. The attack was a complete failure as the Germans realised within a few hours it was merely a feint. It therefore had no impact whatsoever upon the progress of the Somme offensive. This attack was part of the Battles of the Somme, 1st July - 18th November 1916 : A Franco-British offensive that was undertaken after Allied strategic conferences in late 1915, but which changed its nature due to the German attack against the French in the epic Battle of Verdun, which lasted from late February to November. Huge British losses on the first day and a series of fiercely contested steps that became attritional in nature. For all armies on the Western Front it was becoming what the Germans would call "materialschlacht" : a war not of morale, will or even manpower, but of sheer industrial material might. The 15th September 1916 saw the first-ever use of tanks in the step known as the Battle of Flers-Courcelette. The British army in France is now approaching its maximum strength in numbers but is still developing in terms of tactics, technology, command and control. A huge thank you to Catherine Stevenson for all her help regarding Patrick's family and the photos attached. Patrick is also remembered on the St. Augustine's Parish (book) and St Patrick's Church Rolls of Honour. See photos for another 2 photos of Patrick, his father and mother, his sister Mary with husband John and son Joseph, his half-sister Susan, his half-sister Josephine, his CWGC Grave Registration x 3, his Headstone Report, another photo of Patrick's Grave, Rue-Petillon Military Cemetery, Patrick's half-sisters Birth Certificates, his Service Records x 22 (courtesy of the National Archives Australia - lots of information on Patrick) and the Australian Commonwealth Military Forces Cap Badge.